The Ninja Mask
by 1234BlueLagoon
Summary: Raphael is stuck in a closet with an unconscious brother, and with an assassin outside. The assassin, however, is only interested in his brother. And there seems to be only one way to get his attention.


_A oneshot, just because. Dedicated to a friend of mine. And yes, am not finished with my other story, but made this anyway. :P_

* * *

This was it. The greatest decision he ever had to make.

Raphael stood over his unconscious brother, watching his chest fall up and down. It was now or never. Should he leave him and face the enemy, hoping that the closet was enough to hide him? Or should he stay with him, and wait until the inevitable moment when they were found?

Raph's fists tightened, his nails threatening to break through his skin. Every inch of his body was ready to burst through that door and fight. But his better judgment told him that the second he left, his brother was as good as dead. Very likely, the assassin was only waiting for Raph to leave before striking his brother down permanently.

Raph took another glance at Leonardo, and winced as he saw the bruises beginning to take shape. The assassin had to be tough to inflict that much damage on his brother; that much was certain. The guy was pretty efficient, and had more stamina than any other human they had encountered other than Bishop.

Sighing, Raph ran his hand over his mask. What was he going to do? How were they going to get out of this one? Mikey and Don were on the other side of town, while both Leo and Raph's shellcells had been taken out of commission during the first wave of the attack. They were stuck in a strange closet in a strange building, and somewhere in that building there was an assassin after Leonardo.

In a way, Raph was almost insulted that the assassin was not after _him _as well. In fact, during the second attack the guy had made it clear that he was only going to kill _Leo_. Thinking back on it, this had been a definite trap set for Leonardo alone. It was almost a miracle that Raph had asked to join him on the pizza run. What had possessed him to do that? Normally Leo would go alone. The assassin had seemed surprised when there were two turtles instead of one.

The guy obviously did not want Raphael to be there. In fact, he went so far as to try to dart Raph with a knock-out potion to take him out of the way. At least, Raph was pretty certain that it was only a knock-out dart, because when Leo was examining it not too long ago in the closet he had accidently pricked himself. Hence his current state of unconsciousness.

Kinda ironic that Leo would slip up with something so trivial. At least he wasn't dead. Yet.

Raph barely resisted the urge to throw an empty paint can into a metal shelf filled with tools, only because that _might_ possibly cause enough noise to attract the same person they were trying to get away from.

What could he possibly do to get out of this? He was just _itching _to leave the closet.

Raph stiffened, and fell silent. Someone was coming down the hallway outside.

"Blue?" a voice asked.

Raph tightened his fist. It was the assassin.

"Come out wherever you are, Blue Turtle," the assassin taunted, "If you come out now, I'll leave the Red one alone. Scout's honor. I am only being paid to go after you, Blue."

Raph kept as silent as possible. Not a very difficult trait for a ninja.

"Blue, I know you're somewhere in this hallway," the voice said, the feet slowly walking down the corridor, "I've studied you, Blue, just as I study all my assignments. Nothing personal, you know, it's just business. But I know you have a strict code of honor. Now would you really risk the death of the Red one?"

Raph scowled. This guy was pulling the old Leo Guilt thing. At least _he _wasn't dumb enough to fall for that one.

But Leo might.

As the assassin walked down the hallway and apparently turned the corner, repeating his mantra of threats, Raph looked over at Leo. He could barely make him out in the light coming from under the door. His breathing was just the same as it had been two minutes ago.

That guy outside was interested in only his brother. He had studied Leo enough to know what would entice him the most to come out. And, come to think of it, when the two had been fighting the assassin seemed to know his brother's fighting style.

Raph felt like he was about to scream. Here he was, trapped in a closet with his brother, unable to leave for fear that the assassin would come after Leo. But this was torture to Raphael. He was a fighter, not a wait-it-out kind of guy.

Suddenly Raph knew what to do. He was going to fight the assassin, and take his attention away from the unconscious brother in the closet. But there was only one way to get that guy's attention, and it was a doozy.

Slowly stepping over to Leo, and being very quiet so that he would not attract the attention of the assassin, Raph bent down to take Leo's pulse one last time. Yeah, his pulse was normal. Good. Kneeling down on one knee, Raph slowly pulled Leo up to a sitting position and untied the strap holding the katanas in place, then placed the swords on the floor with hardly a sound. Taking his sais out of his belt and lying them carefully on the ground, Raph carefully and quietly took his brother's swords up in his hands. He tied them securely in place on his own back.

The added weight of the swords felt a little strange, but he would get used to that soon. Turning back to his brother, he almost took off his kneepads, and then thought better of it. Those things were identical, so there was no need to switch them. The same went for the elbow pads and the wrist bandages.

Raph picked up his sais, then carefully and gingerly placed them in Leo's belt. Hopefully Leo wouldn't prick himself with them; he couldn't stand blood on his beloved sais.

This next part was emotionally the hardest. Taking the time to close his eyes and mentally prepare himself, Raphael kept them closed as he untied his mask. He opened his eyes to look at the piece of red cloth.

This represented himself.

He carefully set it across his knee.

Untying his brother's blue mask in the near dark, Raphael carefully brought it up to his face and tied it on. He was officially taking on the identity of his brother. He was going to step outside and wield his brother's weapons, fight like his brother and, hopefully, he would be able to throw the assassin off track when he pulled out a few Raph attacks.

With any luck, the assassin would make the mistake of just about everyone who first met the turtles, and not be able to tell him apart from his brother without the right mask. As long as he acted enough like Leonardo and didn't talk too much, the guy would probably fall for it.

Raph took the red mask off his knee and gently tied it to his brother's face. He then stood up to admire his handiwork, at least, as much of it as he could see in the dim lighting.

The turtle lying before him could very well have been a sleeping Raphael, especially since the dark hid the different skin tone.

Raph smiled, a smile that only spread on one side of his face, then drew the katanas from his back to practice a swift kata, feeling the weapons in his hands to get used to their movement.

With a small smirk, he sheathed the swords and leaned forward to whisper in his brother's ear.

"You'll be safe here, Bro," he said.

Turning towards the door, he slowly opened it. He glanced down to see that the hallway was empty before glancing back one last time to check on Leo.

In the light, it was uncanny how much Leo looked like himself.

Slowly closing the door behind him, Raph unsheathed the katanas and slowly walked down the hallway.

As he turned the corner, however, he heard a door creak open behind him. Whirling around, he brought the swords forward in a defensive stance.

The assassin was behind him, facing him but looking into the closet he had just left.

He was just standing there.

Shell.

Mindful to try to run a little more like Leo than like himself, Raph raced towards the assassin.

"There you are," the assassin grinned, turning to face him.

Raph slowed his pace, then came to stop about three feet away from him. He placed his feet in a Leo-like stance. His eyes darted towards the door.

Was Leo alright? The assassin was holding his sword, ready to protect himself in case Raph attacked. But he could just as easily throw the sword as if it were a dagger, and fatally harm Leo.

"So you've finally decided to take up my offer, Blue," said the assassin, grinning, "Do not worry, I am not interested in the Red one at all. I see that one of my knock-out darts found its way into him," he chuckled.

Raph smiled one of his half-smiles. The trick had worked, and the assassin thought that _he _was Leonardo. Come to think of it, if he hadn't switched identities with his brother, the assassin would have the chance to murder Leo while Raph was sneaking down the hallway. So that little switch had saved his brother's life.

"I see that you are under the impression that you have the upper hand," the assassin said, taking note of Raph's smile, "I assure you that you are mistaken. This is your last stand, Leonardo."

So the guy _did _know Leo's real name. Figures.

Raph did a complicated kata with the swords.

_Bring it on_, he thought.

The assassin smiled.

* * *

A low murmur surrounded him. For a little while it was calming, and nearly lulled him back to unconsciousness. However, the murmur slowly turned into a buzz, and that buzz was gradually becoming louder.

Leo groaned, and placed a hand upward in the general direction of his head.

"Leo?" asked a voice, as someone grabbed Leonardo's wrist before he could soothe his head.

"M-Mikey?" Leo asked, groaning, but refusing to open his eyes, "Wha-what happened?"

"You're home in the lair, bro. You're alright." Mikey explained.

"Is he awake?" asked a familiar voice.

"That you, Raph?" he asked.

"Yeah, 'm here Bro," said Raph, "It was touch and go there for a while, though."

"Don, he's awake!" Mikey shouted.

"A little louder, Mikey. I can still hear in my left ear," Leo said sarcastically.

"Geez, you even _sound _like Raph," said Mikey.

"Leo! Are you feeling alright?" Don asked.

"Tired," said Leo, still not opening his eyes, "Did I really knock myself out?"

"Afraid so," said Donnie cheerfully, "Raph brought you home a few hours ago."

"No one told me what happened yet," Leo said.

"Raph took care of the assassin," said Donnie.

"He won't bother ya again, bro." Raph said calmly, "The police will keep a good eye on 'im."

"So are you going to open your eyes or what?" Mikey asked.

Leo snapped his eyes open, and struggled to keep them open.

He closed them two seconds later.

"It's alright Bro," said Raph, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Donnie said it might affect your sight or somethin' for a while. But don't go cryin' or nothin'. I don't want ya to get my mask wet."

At that, Leo's eyes snapped open and he looked at his family.

Mikey was smiling brightly, his orange mask betraying his bubbly personality. Donatello was calm and smiling softly in his purple mask and Raphael…

Raph was wearing his blue mask.

And his katanas.

"Heh," Raph said, smiling one of his very rare but not unheard-of soft smiles, "Ya look good in red, bro."

THE END


End file.
